Sneek Peek Monday - main dish!

We're back to Monday already! The weekends slip by pretty fast when you're busy sleeping and trying to catch up on housework. After a week in bed, I still have until Thursday before I'm supposed to be "back to almost normal pace." I overdid it Sat. and realized why they tell you not to lift, bend or do anything stressful. There's nothing really stressful about shopping - or so I thought. And there's really nothing stressful about cleaning - it's a great de-stressor! But, my body didn't agree both days and I ended up back in bed. So, today, I've done a few loads of laundry and firmly parked myself in my chair. I'm dying to go for a walk and have to wait for Thurs. The goal today is find a week's worth of meals I can make for me and the family and start putting together a grocery list to support that. At some point, like my friend J, I hope to have a whole month of meals. Her refrigerator is beautifully decorated in a 30-31 day calendar with three meals printed on each day. It's like the lunchroom at school when you were a kid. You had the whole month in front of you so you knew not to be sick on pizza day. I used to be amazed at the organization and thought to myself, 'someday I'll get my sh*t together too." Then I realized, cooking for my family isn't quite so cut and dry. I have my picky kid (this discussion has been covered already today by my friends about picky eaters and frustrated moms) then I have my eat anything kids, and then there's me. Dietary restriction. It should be a four letter word. Certainly, my diet is not conducive to family living... who wants to give up pasta, garlic bread, rice and potatoes? Any hands? Volunteers? Anyone?????

No, there's not a lot of takers for that one. So I still try to do what I can to remain "normal." It's easy to work with a protein (chicken), a starch (pasta), and a veggie (broccoli.) The end result is pretty decent. Cook broccoli, pasta and chicken, make a cheese sauce, put broccoli, chicken, cheese, and pasta together for everyone, for me just the chicken and broccoli. That's a really easy 'transformer' meal. But they aren't all that simple. Pizza is a killer. Have you ever ordered a pizza, been starving hungry, craving pizza and then just sat and watched everyone else eat it? Try that some day. I almost think I'd rather have someone break a bone in my face and then drill out my sinus... oh wait....

Getting back to today's sneek peak - I have a heavy hitter this week. Something for the whole family, it takes a bit of time, but if you're prepared, it's not terrible. You'll be oh-so-glad for this one, very hearty, healthy, delicious, hot meal. It is a main dish, and can be used for the whole meal, no sides necessary unless you'd like to add some garlic bread (GF for celiacs, or regular for those who aren't). Want the hint? NO GROANING ALLOWED!!

Hint: crock pot required (kinda... hee hee)

Can you wait for Friday? Take a seat.... =)